Molded, plastic container and a method for making the same

ABSTRACT

A plastic container having a body portion and a handle portion which extends from the body portion is formed using a pair of mold halves placed into engagement. During the molding process, a surface of the handle portion is provided with a recess in at least one area where the mold halves are in placed into engagement.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of and is a divisional of U.S.application Ser. No. 10/953,429, filed Sep. 29, 2004, the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The following is generally directed to a molded, plastic container and amethod for making the same.

BACKGROUND

As described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,162, in well-known blow moldingprocesses, bottles or other containers or articles are formed from anextruded parrison between a pair of mating mold halves, whereupon themold halves separate and the molded article is ejected. In mostoperations of this nature, flashings or fins of excess plastic materialare formed at the parting line where the mold halves are in engagement.The flashing is then removed in a separate operation, either by hand orby machine.

Further illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,773,716 is aprocess for molding a container having a handle. In the describedprocess, which is merely exemplary of many other types of methods formaking containers having handles, the mold halves are again separated tofree the container. When the container is removed from the mold, acompressed and bonded area of material, defined by the mold halves, islocated between the container body and the handle. The materialcomprising the compressed and bonded area is then trimmed to form ahandle opening. Removal of the material is accomplished through meansknown in the art such as laser, water jets, or mechanical impactde-flashing. By design, when the flashing is trimmed from the handleopening, a rib is left behind along the inside of the handle as formedby the bonding of adjacent areas of the wall.

When excess flashing is present in the handle grip area, whether bydesign or merely as a result of the trimming process, the flashing thatremains may undesirably intrude into the hand of an individual liftingor holding the container by the handle. Accordingly, a need exists foran improved, molded, plastic container that can be lifted and/or heldwithout an individual experiencing any serious discomfort caused byflashing that may remain on the handle grip area.

SUMMARY

In accordance with this need, the following discloses a plasticcontainer and method for making the same wherein the plastic containeris designed to locate any residual post trimming flashing in the griparea of a container in a manner such that direct contact between a handof an individual and the residual flashing is noticeably reduced oreliminated. To reduce the amount of flashing an individual may encounterwhen lifting or holding the plastic container, the mold halves used inthe bottle formation process provide the plastic container with a recessin the area of the parting line where the mold halves are in engagement.By way of example, the forming of such a recess is particularlydesirable in the area of the handle interior surface. When the plasticcontainer is then removed from the mold and the flashing trimmed, anyresidual flashing that may result from the trimming process or left bydesign will be located generally within a formed recess. The formedrecess thus functions to generally hide any flashing since any flashingwhich is located within a formed recess generally fails to extend beyondthe exterior surface of the plastic container where any such flashingwould undesirably intrude into the hand of an individual lifting and/orholding the container.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, propertiesand relationships of the invention will be obtained from the followingdetailed description and accompanying drawings which set forthillustrative embodiments that are indicative of the various ways inwhich the principles of the invention may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had topreferred embodiments shown in the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a side elevation view of an exemplary plastic bottle;and

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view along line A-A of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to the figures, a molded product and method for makingthe same is described. In this regard, it is to be appreciated that themolded product may be formed using a blow molding process, which is wellknown to those of ordinary skill in the art. By way of example, astretch blow molding process is illustrated and described in theaforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,716 which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. It will also be appreciated that the blowmolding process may be an extrusion blow molding process. In theseexemplary types of blow molding processes, a pair of opposed moldsections are utilized which are closed in mating position. Once theproduct is formed within the mated molds, the opposed mold sections areopened to eject the molded product. As will be appreciated, the moldedproduct issuing from the mold will typically carry flashings which arelocated in the area where the mold sections meet.

In the example described herein, the resulting product is a plasticcontainer 10. The plastic container 10 includes a body portion 12 (forholding a quantity of material), a neck portion 14 (which may thethreaded for engaging a cap) having an opening leading to the bodyportion 12 (for inserting and removing the product contents into andfrom the plastic container), and a handle portion 16 attached to thebody portion 12 (for lifting and/or holding the body portion 12). Whenissued from the mold, the plastic container 10 will typically include acompressed and bonded area of material which can be located in one orseveral areas of the container depending upon the specific blow moldingprocess that is employed. In the example of FIG. 1, the bonded materialwould be present in an area which, when removed via a trimming process,results in an opening 18. The opening 18 allows for an individual tolift and/or hold the plastic container 10 by the handle portion 16.Removal of the compressed and bonded area of material may beaccomplished through means well known in the art, such as throughvarious press or cutting methods, mechanical impact de-flashing, or thelike.

To generally limit the visual appearance and potential for contact withany flashing that may be present after the trimming process has beenperformed, for example, to remove the material from the opening 18, themold halves used in the molding process are adapted to provide theplastic container 10 with a recess 20 in the area of the parting line 22where the mold halves are in engagement. As illustrated in FIG. 2, theforming of such a recess 20 is particularly desirable in the area of theinterior surface of the handle 16, i.e., the surface of the handle 16which faces the body 12 of the plastic container 10. Preferably, therecess 20 extends along a substantial entirety of the length of thesurface handle 16 which faces the body 12, which surface may be furtherprovided with undulations which function to form finger-grips. Whileillustrated as being incorporated in the handle 16, it will beappreciated that such a recess 20 may be formed anywhere along theparting line 22 of the mold halves which is deemed desirable.Furthermore, while the recess 20 is illustrated as having a generallyconcave shape thereby forming an arcuate surface which extends inwardlyinto the handle 16, it will be appreciated that the recess 20 may beprovided with other geometrical shapes without departing from the spiritof the invention. It will be additionally understood that the moldhalves include elements that are complimentary to the shape provided tothe recess 20 which element function to form the recess 20 in themolded, plastic container 10. Thus, in this manner, it will beappreciated that the side surface of the body 12 of the plasticcontainer 10 is provided with an elongated recess 20 that extendscontinuously in a vertical direction collinearly aligned with thevertically oriented parting line 22 and that projects inwardly into thebody 12 of the plastic container 10 in a direction that is transverse tothe vertically oriented parting line 22 from opposed sides of thevertically oriented parting line 22.

For use in generally assuring that any flashing that may result from thetrimming process will then be located generally within the entirety of aformed recess 20, it is preferred that the depth of the recess 20 iseither greater than or approximately equal to the length of any residualflashing. The depth of the recess 20 can also be less than the length ofany residual flashing. In such a construction, the depth of the recess20 will be such that the protrusion of any residual flashing above aplane defined by the outermost or highest surfaces where the recessbegins is significantly less that the height of the flashing itself.

By way of further example, in the illustrated embodiment, the recess 20is provided with a depth of approximately 0.02 inches, allowing forconventional errors in measurement. In this manner, any flashing thatremains after a trimming process, which is typically less that 0.02inches in height, will not extend beyond the outermost surface of thehandle 16 (generally indicated as 24) where any such flashing wouldundesirably intrude into the hand of an individual lifting and/orholding the container. Furthermore, the recess illustrated in FIG. 2,having an inwardly projecting arcuate surface, is provided with a blendradius of approximately 0.05 inches, again allowing for conventionalerrors in measurement. In this manner, the recess 20 is provided with awidth of approximately 0.12 inches which is seen to be small enough toprevent flesh from a hand of an individual lifting or holding thecontainer from entering into the recess 20 to a depth where the fleshwould contact any remaining flashing in a manner that may be deemed tofeel objectionable. Thus, as will be appreciated, by providing a recess20 to the molded plastic container 10 in selected areas where theparting line of 22 the mold halves are in engagement, a molded plasticcontainer 10 is produced which effectively reduces the amount offlashing that is exposed to an individual handling the molded plasticcontainer 10. Further, the provision of a recess 20 avoids the need forperforming any further trimming operation on the flashing for thepurpose of attempting to provide a flashing region of the handle area ofthe container 10 with a more uniform and less pronounced surface.

It will also be appreciated by those skill in the art that this approachcan be employed in other regions of the molded plastic container 10besides the handle area 16 where direct contact with or the visualappearance of residual flashing would be considered objectionable.Generally this approach of incorporating a small recess 20 directly onthe parting line area would be most beneficial in the regions of theplastic container 10 above the base 15 of the plastic container 10. Thiscould include adapting recesses to address residual flashing along thesides, top, and inside and outside surfaces of the handle area.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been described indetail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and alternatives to those details could be developed inlight of the overall teachings of the disclosure. For example, whiledescribed in connection with a blow molding process, it will beunderstood that the principles of the invention may be utilized inconnection with any process utilizing a mold during the formation of aplastic container. Accordingly, the particular arrangement disclosed ismeant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of theinvention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claimsand any equivalents thereof.

1. A plastic container formed using a pair of mold halves havingflashing in an area adjacent to a vertically oriented parting linedefined where the mold halves are placed into engagement, comprising: abody portion having a base, a top, and a side surface intermediate thebase and the top wherein the side surface has an elongated recess thatextends continuously in a vertical direction collinearly aligned withthe vertically oriented parting line and that projects inwardly into thebody portion in a direction transverse to the vertically orientedparting line from opposed sides of the vertically oriented parting line;and wherein at least a portion of the flashing is disposed within theelongated recess and wherein the body portion comprises a handle portionintermediate the base and the top extending from and spaced from aremainder of the body portion and wherein the handle portion has theside surface having the elongated recess.
 2. The plastic container asrecited in claim 1, wherein the side surface having the elongated recessfaces the remainder of the body portion.
 3. The plastic container asrecited in claim 2, wherein the elongated recess projects into the bodyportion to a depth of approximately 0.020 inches.
 4. The plasticcontainer as recited in claim 3, wherein the elongated recess projectsarcuately into the body portion from opposed sides of the verticallyoriented parting line.
 5. The plastic container as recited in claim 2,wherein the elongated recess projects arcuately into the body portionfrom opposed sides of the vertically oriented parting line.
 6. Theplastic container as recited in claim 2, wherein the elongated recesshas a width of approximately 0.12 inches.
 7. The plastic container asrecited in claim 6, wherein the elongated recess projects into the bodyportion to a depth of approximately 0.020 inches.
 8. The plasticcontainer as recited in claim 7, wherein the elongated recess projectsarcuately into the body portion from opposed sides of the verticallyoriented parting line.
 9. The plastic container as recited in claim 6,wherein the elongated recess projects arcuately into the body portionfrom opposed sides of the vertically oriented parting line.
 10. Theplastic container as recited in claim 1, wherein the elongated recessprojects arcuately into the body portion from opposed sides of thevertically oriented parting line.
 11. The plastic container as recitedin claim 1, wherein the elongated recess projects into the body portionto a depth of approximately 0.020 inches.
 12. The plastic container asrecited in claim 11, wherein the elongated recess projects arcuatelyinto the body portion from opposed sides of the vertically orientedparting line.
 13. The plastic container as recited in claim 11, whereinthe elongated recess has a width of approximately 0.12 inches.
 14. Theplastic container as recited in claim 13, wherein the elongated recessprojects arcuately into the body portion from opposed sides of thevertically oriented parting line.